Too Much to do Tuesday! :)

. . . In a great way of course! I am loving my new room at work b/c now I got to meet another great person and he is so cool. Today he really opened up to me and showed me what he is working on. He is drafting the answers to the Indian parliament right now about what the whole ICRISAT institute has done and what good it is doing, etc. It is crazy! I saw the questions! My area, (Global Theme - Institutions, Markets, and Policy Impacts) is the one responsible for this b/c it is the policy area. So he writes answers, gives to boss (who is my mentor and head of the whole Global Theme), she revises and then gives to the General Director (William Darr) who is head of whole ICRISAT here and then he gives to parliament spokesperson or something!! So cool!

He also said something to me and I turned around and looked at his computer screen and was surprised to see the World Food Prize page up - with the Borlaug-Ruan interns this year and my picture! It was so cool that he found this and really cares about what I am doing. I told him how we were selected and what the program is all about and it was so nice to share. He then said he was on the sight b/c of reading on Dr. Ejeta who was the Laureate of the WFPrize last year. He is a huge fan of him and so impressed by his unbelievable story of hardship and overcoming adversity from a poor family in Ethiopia.

He grew up in a one room thatched hut with a mud floor in Ethiopia and went to school in a neighboring village. His mother greatly valued education as did he and he walked 20 kilometers to his school each Sunday night and 20 kilometers back home each Friday night. So he received the prize last year and is the absolute most humble and hard-working man, it was such an honor to just hear him speak. However, I was also placed in his small group which meant I got to present my research to him and discuss our policy and other approaches to our issues of global hunger. It was such an incredible opportunity meeting with Dr. Ejeta, so I got to share that with my work friend and I think he is so impressed by just this great fellowship opportunity.

I was so happy also that he looked into what I am doing because it is a unique program and the only reason ICRISAT would really want me here! Now after this internship if I ever wanted to come back I'd be a little more qualified - maybe in a future summer- but who knows what the future will hold. Uh-oh, better try to work on my report this time first!

It is so nice w/ my friend Ya-Ting at work, I got to help her out a little today and she had a couple of questions. I think she feels like she is bugging me b/c I have my whole big big report write-up I am frantically working on, but it is actually humbling to have her ask me questions - and then really cool when I can be of any help :) I mean she is working on stuff for her PhD plan, so what she is doing is gonna be important for the next few years of her life until she completes it. Not to mention I need some breaks from what I am doing anyway.

With this revitalized health I just feel like I am having 1 million thoughts a minute, they are all catching up to me from the days under the weather. So I need to keep telling myself at work, "Focus Leah, focus." I then look at the calendar and that is incentive enough! I am not stressed about it though because I mean I only have the time I have. However, I do want to make the most of it and work as hard as I can during my worktime. I deserve that to the farmers - to document their lives the most clearly that I can see it and at least write down the story that too often is ignored. I really enjoy what I am doing.

Some day I will take a pic. of my new room and let you see the new space accomodating Leah. I am up in the front of the office now and I really like it there. Man, with my million-thoughts-a-minute-mind it is very good my back is to the distractions as I said b/c that probably helps things out!

So then tonight I was bound and determined to transform this sick room into one of new and good health. I had a me-e-esss b/c I had my suitcase from the village w/ dirty village clothes, etc. was still unpacked due to illness. Ughhh. Not to mention my double glass doors have been closed throughout illness and it has been stuffy in here. So I was ready to unleash . . . I called housing and they came and opened them for me. (They got closed while I was gone, which was probably ok thing.)

Then I got unpacked and then I did laundry - mass laundry! It was crazy. I actually washed by hand instead of laundry service. A couple of the other interns do that as well. I was going to use my friends detergent but I get free n clear at home or I get allergies so I decided on the homemade goat's soap instead. (It is generous Claire's, from her cool, organic, diversified farm.) Anyway, operation laundry was successful, but I did a little color mixing - no whites and colors though, so I was ok there. We'll see how clean they are when they dry!!

It may seem weird, me washing laundry with bar soap :), but it actually seems like the most natural thing to me, surprisingly. I was just thinking today about how cool the simplicity in the culture is. It makes me think of a lot. Like how many clothes to give away when I get home! I mean, here I am with just the clothes I packed for 2 months - which is 1/6 of the yr. and most of the summer season. It is week 5 and the first time I had to do major laundry. After the village I actually had some dirty clothes! Otherwise, just the basic everyday things are what I would need to wash before this. I thought of how much water I am saving b/c 1st of all obviously it takes less water by hand but then I thought if I was home for the summer how I would have had more wash done. . . .

I think the fact I will be just packing again when I get home will help with the down-sizing also b/c only so much fits in a Hybrid! And I think I want more at college than just clothes!! It is not really like I have ever had a big thing with clothes, but I mean I have been living for 1/6 of the year on just what I brought it my suitcase and it is plenty! So, I obviously am used to more than this at home!

Not to mention, it is one of my (and maybe typical, couldn't tell ya, I'm not too typical usually!) coping mechanisms to the culture shock and new experiences to focus in on something to make adjustments to. It helps me anyway to look at ways I can change things I do to not just go back to what I was before after arriving back home. (I don't think this is too much of an issue considering I will then be booking it to college, but still.) It is a more visible check for myself, like, "did I forget what India taught me?" "Nope, look at my decreased wardrobe for proof." Not to mention it helps make me feel better too!

I have found that there are going to be things throughout life that I will not agree with or support. However, the only thing we can ever control is ourselves - our actions and decisions. Those are how we show what we truly support and where our values lay. Therefore, sometimes it is better to just live our lives in accord with our beliefs than to get bothered by whatever it is. Like if it would make me sad to see a person in rags, barefoot, I would then think and I have how many extras!?!? Some things really make me think of my life as so much excess!!! It serves as a great reminder of just how blessed we really are.
For health. For family. For friends. For opportunities. For enough money. For this sweet life.
Ok all the thoughts, rants, frustrations, reflections, and wonderful joys for now :) :0 :)
I am going to bed.

Sweet Dreams India. . . I lay my head down and drift to sleep amidst the soft pitter-patter of a peaceful summer night during the rainy season in India. . .